{"id":319124,"date":"2024-09-23T08:46:24","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T13:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=319124"},"modified":"2024-09-22T22:53:26","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T03:53:26","slug":"trial-uk-veteran-silent-prayer-censorship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/trial-uk-veteran-silent-prayer-censorship\/","title":{"rendered":"Trial begins for UK pro-lifer and veteran arrested for silent prayer in censorship zone"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>The trial for Adam Smith-Cooper, a family man and veteran, began in the UK last week; he faces prosecution for silently praying outside of an abortion facility. According to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), over the three days of testimony at Poole Magistrates&#8217; Court this week, &#8220;we&#8217;ve witnessed history \u2014 a real-life thought crime prosecution.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Paul Coleman <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ADFIntl\/status\/1837164967654527195\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> for ADF (emphasis added):<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em><strong>The prosecution argued that Adam&#8217;s known views on abortion combined with his admitted thoughts and silent prayers relating to abortion should be enough to secure a criminal conviction.<\/strong> And think about the consequences if such a prosecution succeeds. Imagine a scenario where the silent thoughts and prayers in your head can be successfully prosecuted by the state. That is why this case is so important \u2014 not just for Adam and his family \u2014 but for anyone who believes in freedom. For anyone who does not wish to live in a totalitarian state.<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\ud83d\udcf0Thoughtcrime Trial Update: 3 days in court for 3 minutes of prayer<\/p>\n<p>Army veteran &amp; family man Adam Smith-Connor prosecuted for praying (silently) within the privacy of his mind in a public space in England.<\/p>\n<p>What we witnessed in court was shocking. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Paul_B_Coleman?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Paul_B_Coleman<\/a> reports <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Iqe45xPmL7\">pic.twitter.com\/Iqe45xPmL7<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ADF International (@ADFIntl) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ADFIntl\/status\/1837164967654527195?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 20, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Smith-Connor, who once assisted in abortions as part of his army medical training, was arrested in January of 2023 and fined for silently praying in a censorship zone in the coastal town of Bournemouth. His back was to the abortion business, but &#8220;community safety accredited officers&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/anglican.ink\/2023\/01\/19\/army-veteran-fined-for-silent-prayer-penalty-for-praying-for-my-son-who-is-deceased\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">approached<\/a> him simply because he was considered to have violated a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO). Smith-Connor told police he was praying for his own son, who had died by abortion 22 years earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, the officers told him he was &#8220;in breach of clause 4a&#8230;&#8221; PSPOs give local authorities the power to &#8220;ban specific acts in a designated geographical area in England and Wales.&#8221; Clause 4a states:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em><span class=\"LegDS LegRHS LegP2Text\">A public spaces protection order is an order that identifies the public place referred to in subsection (2) (\u201cthe restricted area\u201d) and\u2014<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"LegClearFix LegP3Container\" style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em><span id=\"section-59-4-a\" class=\"LegDS LegLHS LegP3No\">(a)<\/span><span class=\"LegDS LegRHS LegP3Text\">prohibits specified things being done in the restricted area<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>On October 13, 2022, a PSPO was used to <a href=\"https:\/\/anglican.ink\/2023\/01\/19\/army-veteran-fined-for-silent-prayer-penalty-for-praying-for-my-son-who-is-deceased\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">enforce<\/a> a &#8220;buffer zone,&#8221; criminalizing an &#8220;act&#8221; or &#8220;attempted act&#8221; of &#8220;approval\/disapproval, with respect to issues related to abortion services, by any means. This includes but is not limited to graphic, verbal or written means, prayer or counselling\u201d in the designated area outside of an abortion business.<\/p>\n<p>It also bans the reading of scripture or even making the Sign of the Cross.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Twenty-two] years ago I drove my ex-girlfriend to a facility and paid for her to have an abortion. It was a pivotal moment in my life,\u201d Smith-Connor said in a press release in 2023. \u201cThe consequences of my actions that day came back to grieve me years later, when I realized I had lost my son Jacob to an abortion I had paid for. Recently, I stood outside a similar facility and prayed to God for my son Jacob, for other babies who have lost their lives to abortion, for their grieving families, and for abortion clinic staff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The verdict in Smith-Connor&#8217;s trial is expected next month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/resist-pressure-to-dispense-the-abortion-pill\/\"><b><i>Urge Walmart, Costco, Kroger, and other major chains to resist pressure to dispense the abortion pill<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The trial for Adam Smith-Cooper, a family man and veteran, began in the UK last week; he faces prosecution for silently praying outside of an abortion facility. According to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), over the three days of testimony at Poole Magistrates&#8217; Court this week, &#8220;we&#8217;ve witnessed history \u2014 a real-life thought crime prosecution.&#8221; Paul [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":319174,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[2793,5,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Trial begins for UK pro-lifer and veteran arrested for silent prayer in censorship zone<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&quot;The prosecution argued that Adam&#039;s known views on abortion [and]... thoughts and silent prayers relating to [it]&quot; are enough to convict him.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/trial-uk-veteran-silent-prayer-censorship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trial begins for UK pro-lifer and veteran arrested for silent prayer in censorship zone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&quot;The prosecution argued that Adam&#039;s known views on abortion [and]... thoughts and silent prayers relating to [it]&quot; are enough to convict him.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/trial-uk-veteran-silent-prayer-censorship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-23T13:46:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-23T03:53:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/screenshot-CBN-News-Adam-Smith-Connor.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nancy Flanders\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nancy Flanders\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/trial-uk-veteran-silent-prayer-censorship\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/trial-uk-veteran-silent-prayer-censorship\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nancy Flanders\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d61ca3dd1aacf12635bdf71d75c328ef\"},\"headline\":\"Trial begins for UK pro-lifer and veteran arrested for silent prayer in censorship zone\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-23T13:46:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-23T03:53:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/trial-uk-veteran-silent-prayer-censorship\/\"},\"wordCount\":553,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Activism\",\"International\",\"Newsbreak\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/trial-uk-veteran-silent-prayer-censorship\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/trial-uk-veteran-silent-prayer-censorship\/\",\"name\":\"Trial begins for UK pro-lifer and veteran arrested for silent prayer in censorship zone\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-23T13:46:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-23T03:53:26+00:00\",\"description\":\"\\\"The prosecution argued that Adam's known views on abortion [and]... thoughts and silent prayers relating to [it]\\\" are enough to convict him.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/trial-uk-veteran-silent-prayer-censorship\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/trial-uk-veteran-silent-prayer-censorship\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/trial-uk-veteran-silent-prayer-censorship\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Trial begins for UK pro-lifer and veteran arrested for silent prayer in censorship zone\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, &amp; 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